We stand on the precipice of what is the most disastrous educational budget proposal and are forced to decide the vision going forward for our commonwealth. Simply put: We do not have enough because you have not funded our schools sufficiently. These times require your body to have the courage to make education a priority.

The governor has made it clear education is not a priority.

The gap between the rich and poor correlates directly to the gap between test scores of affluent schools and schools beset with poverty. I challenge you to look at school rankings as far back as the No Child Left Behind Act-inspired testing craze, and you will see that the affluent schools stay on the top and the high-need schools stay on the bottom. You made our students take these awful tests, whose relevance is specious at best to their future success, and knowing the results, you refuse to fund us to "fix" the scores. These scores were then used to lambast us for our lack of progress. It is unethical to fault the educators or students at these schools for their "low." The fault is with your body for lack of funding. Support Education Excellence in Kentucky funding has been stagnant since 2008. While we teach more students, with higher needs, our funding is 15 percent less than it was in 2008. This is not acceptable.

We need bold and courageous leadership that will create funding models based off of our students’ needs. Kentucky Education Reform Act is a prime example of bold, courageous leadership from our legislative body. We must move past the idea that all schools are funded equally. This may be an unpopular belief, but I give it to you from the boots-on-the-ground eyes of a principal doing the work about which you debate. We are charged with educating the youth of the commonwealth on budgets that are nowhere near effective for our most needy students. You can have the bold vision of an educated commonwealth, where all students have a robust funding model that supports their needs.

When pensions caused educators statewide to become loud, you patted yourselves on the back for “having the courage to not kick the can” we rolled our eyes and remained hard at work. The most recent pension debacle taught me that the legislature listens when we become loud. You need to hear this loud and clear: We are not funded to answer the challenges before us, and our profession is not compensated to the level where we keep highly effective staff.

If you want an educated commonwealth, you’re going to have to not only fund our schools effectively, but you’re going to have to fund our professionals sufficiently. I will use myself as an example. I have three degrees, significant experience and work approximately 3,300 hours a year for my school. When I hear our governor lambasting my profession for the $100,000-plus salaries, I ask you, what do you think a professional in my position should be compensated? I run an organization with over 2,100 students and 240 staff. As your body is often fond of the private sector, what is a correlating position with my responsibility and experience? The same rationale applies to our teachers. Imagine the state of the commonwealth if our teachers were not afraid for their retirement, and are compensated for their experience and ability commensurate with other professions. We should aspire for teachers to make strong salaries for their work.

Forty educators just filed to run for your seats. One of those 40 teaches in my school. He should be teaching, not running for office because he believes that you don’t value the needs of our students. It should cause reflection on your part as to what you have done, and what you intend to do for the future of our commonwealth. The current path that state government travels does not honor education, nor seek meaningful input in the future of education in our commonwealth. Instead, it cuts, belittles and marginalizes the needs of our students, educators and their communities. The most recent budget proposed guts our schools, and spits in the faces of the students of the commonwealth.

You have an opportunity for bold and courageous leadership for the future of our commonwealth. Do not fail to rise to the occasion.

Robert Fulk is principal at Marion C. Moore School, a middle and high school with Jefferson County Public Schools.